Record Companies Square Off Against Apple

This week, Apple Computer is still fighting Apple Corps. over the use of its logo in the iTunes Music Store, but Apple Computer will soon have a bigger fight on its hands. This year, each of the major record companies is set to renegotiate the terms of its contract with Apple, and most of them seem inclined to make Apple change its pricing structure. The problem, according to the record companies, is that fixed pricing doesn't make sense because it could charge a lot more than 99 cents per track for new songs, and would like to charge less for classic tracks. Apple, of course, insists that consistency is the key and has accused the recording industry of being greedy. However, Apple thinks nothing of using variable pricing for its iTunes-based album downloads, and I'm pretty sure no one would accuse the company of under-charging for its expensive Macs, either